


if these sheets were the states (and you were miles away)

by scheifsforlife



Series: the wjc trio [3]
Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Established Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M, written after tonight's horrible avs loss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-23
Updated: 2021-02-23
Packaged: 2021-03-13 11:29:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29650668
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scheifsforlife/pseuds/scheifsforlife
Summary: "I'm getting sent down," is the first thing Dylan hears when he picks up the phone at 1 am on the Tuesday morning after the loss to the Isles.
Relationships: Bowen Byram/Dylan Cozens
Series: the wjc trio [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2094888
Comments: 12
Kudos: 21





	if these sheets were the states (and you were miles away)

**Author's Note:**

> Would you look at that? Me? Writing fic? That was unprepared for and totally does not fit my writing plans? Just because I need to emote my feelings about this loss?
> 
> Yup.
> 
> Title of the fic is from [If These Sheets Were the States](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDhoDYBGX18) by All Time Low

"I'm getting sent down," is the first thing Dylan hears when he picks up the phone at 1 am the Tuesday morning after the loss to the Isles.

It's Bo, and-and he sounds shaky, in a way Dylan hasn't heard him since World Juniors, since that horrible loss that left them both so broken on the inside that they barely pulled it together enough to say goodbye to each other. He sounds unstable, like he's halfway to falling off a cliff already and this call is just one that he felt like he needed to make before he committed to the fall completely.

Dylan doesn't understand. Just last night Bo had called him raving about how amazing Lake Tahoe was and how he wants to go there to golf in the summer with Kirby and all the boys. He wonders what could have happened in between the time that Bo had texted him "good luck :))))" and now. Surely-surely the game couldn't have gone that bad, could it? Not so bad that Bo would think that he was getting sent down, that he would think the Avs would give up on him just cause he hasn't SCORED in the show yet. He was their number one d-man LAST WEEK, how could it have spiralled so badly.

It doesn't matter now though. Dylan can't be spiralling and thinking about what could have happened to Bo to make him feel like this, no his job right now was to be a dutiful boyfriend and tell him that everything was going to be alright, and that he loved him, and that no the Avs weren't going to send him down.

"What happened baby?" And oh god Dylan hopes Eric is asleep by now cause he'll be fucking MURDERED by Coach if he knew he was up this late talking to his "best friend" of all people.

Bo sniffles and oh he's been crying. He's been crying and Dylan is thousands of miles away and can't do anything and this is so much worse than it was in Lethbridge and Vancouver. At least then he was reassured by the fact they'd see each other next month or something. Now? Dylan hasn't seen him in person in months, and it'll be so many more before Bo can be back with him, back in his arms where he belongs, where Dylan can hold him and protect him and make sure he knows that he's, before anything, unconditionally loved by so many people.

There's a sob across the line, and it's like an exercise band has been tightened around Dylan's heart. He's so far away. How-how is he supposed to do this? He doesn't--he's never been the greatest with words, since the Yale days even, and Bo is crying. He's crying and there's nothing Dylan can do, nothing he can do to take away the pain except for opening his big mouth and awkwardly saying something that will probably make Bo cry more. And oh god, Dakota Krebs and his stupid love languages' book was right. He can't do this. He's not cut out for this, his love language is touch for fuck's sake and Bo is thousands of miles away in Denver where everything is cold and frozen and Dylan can't be there to keep him warm. He can't. He doesn't know how to SAY it, how Bo has barely told him anything and yet Dylan already wants to be packing his stuff to get on a plane to Colorado to just go hold him. He doesn't know how to express how much he wants to fold the United fucking States in half like he folds the blanket in the guest room of Eric's rental house every morning before going to the rink so Bo can be here with him. He doesn't know how to tell him the visceral need he has to have Bo in his bed, next to him always, so he can protect him from everything that makes him crying like fucking this. He just doesn't know.

"Dylan?"

And that's how the damn dam breaks, how it comes crashing down onto Dylan like a bucket of ice-cold water was _dumped_ on his head. What is he doing? Bo-Bo _**NEEDS**_ him right now, and he's in his feelings about how he can't do this? He-he needs to choke it down and just-just help Bo right now. He's the most important thing. He's always the most important thing.

"Bo? Baby can--do you want to turn on FaceTime so we can talk properly?"

Maybe this will help. Maybe this will make it feel more like Bo is here with him in the flesh and not in Denver. Maybe seeing his face will give Dylan the confidence to say the things he needs to say to make this better, to make this stop hurting for Bo.

Everything is for Bo. Everything he ever does, since the moment they met in that gym in Langly, BC, is for Bo, whether Dylan knows it or not.

The lighting in the room is dim when Bo turns on FaceTime, his face half-hidden in the fleece blanket Dylan had gotten for him for Christmas two years ago. His cheeks are completely flushed, like he's come off a hard shift, but his eyes say it all, red-rimmed and so swollen he can barely keep them open. Dylan's heart would crack in half for him, if not for the exercise band already wrapped around it, tightening to the point that it knocks the wind out of him when Bo fully, truly looks at him, looking more broken than Dylan's ever seen him, worse even than World Juniors.

Cause World Juniors made Bo cry out of disappointment. He knew what the expectations were, and he had felt like he had let everyone down. Dylan had known though that Bo wasn't too broken up about it cause he knew he was headed to the show. This though? This? This looks like to Dylan the time Bo lost the WHL Championship two years ago. Not disappointment. Not letting everyone down. Just a bone-deep knowledge that he might have just let the biggest opportunity of his life slip out of his hands before he even had a chance to do anything with it.

And that? Dylan can't fix that. But-but he might just be able to make it a little bit better.

"Baby, can you tell me what happened?"

There's a pause before Bo whispers, voice cracking halfway through, " I scored."

The "then why are you so sad?" falls out of Dylan's mouth before he can stop it, and now he's desperately holding back his own tears because of course. Of course he did this. Bo's-he's going to hang up now, and it's all Dylan's fault, he was supposed to make things BETTER but he just made them worse and he's so awkward and--

"It was on my own net Dylan," is all he catches before Bo bursts into tears, not even bothering to hide in the blanket anymore, full-on sobbing in front of the camera.

And no. N O. Dylan is not having this. He's not having Bo think that the Avs are going to put him on their AHL team just because he made one little mistake, one little thing that hurt the team when he's still so young and learning. N O. He doesn't care how bad he is with words, he CAN'T have Bo be thinking this

"Baby," and sue him if he turns on captain voice a little bit. "They aren't going to send you down just because you made a little mistake. The team knows that you're better than that, that you can play well and be a helpful player in the lineup, they're not going to send you down okay? You're-you're so good Bo, they could never."

Bo gives him a choked laugh.

"Really?" he says, and it's so self-deprecating that it physically _hurts_ Dylan. "Cause it was more than one mistake. It was me taking more penalties than points I have, me putting the team down when they needed me, and me not being able to do anything other than putting a goal in my own _NET_. Dylan, it's all of that and more and Twitter is going berSERK--"

"Fuck them," and Dylan could give a fuck if he's interrupting Bo cause this is fucking important. "Fuck them, they don't know you. They don't know what you are as a player, who you are as a person. They don't know you but I do Bo, and-and you're SO MUCH MORE than you're selling yourself as. You're human, you make mistakes. We all do. But you were on the FIRST PAIR not even two weeks ago as a NINETEEN year old, Bo, you're so so good. And special. And amazing. Don't let them tell you that you're not, don't let them implant that into your mind. They are not fucking sending you down"

It's a speech. In short, it's really a speech. But Dylan's always been good at leading and-and he thinks this is what Bo needs. He needs to be reassured he's good, that he deserves to be here, that other people believe that too. After all, Bo loves to please. And he always succeeds in it, at least in Dylan's mind.

"You think so?"

And even though Bo's voice is still shaky and small, it's not as bad as it was before. It's a little bit hopeful and with the way his eyes glimmer in the dark of the room, Dylan knows he's going to be okay.

Bo is thousands of miles away from him. Dylan can't fix that. But maybe, just maybe, Dylan can pretend for one night that he's powerful enough to fold the country in half and fix Bo's heart. Cause in the end that's what matters.

Bowen Byram being happy is all that matters.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! You can find me on tumblr at [three-headed-monster](https://three-headed-monster.tumblr.com/).


End file.
